Minister of Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has warned dairy farmers that granting the nitrates derogation is not something that is in the Government's gift, as it's something that needs to be applied for and approved by the European Commission.
The warning came at the recent Donegal Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) county executive which was held on the dairy farm of Charles McCandless in Culdaff, Inishowen.
A large crowd of dairy farmers from around the northwest attended the meeting where the Minister reiterated that, as part of the agreed terms of the last nitrates derogation, the Irish Government has to submit an interim report on the progress the country is making in terms of water quality and chemical fertiliser use to the European Commission.
The terms were clear - if water quality hadn’t improved by the midterm review, the country’s derogation rate would drop from 250kg N/ha to 220kg N/ha in January 2024.
Currently, around 7,000 farmers nationally are availing of the derogation. Ireland is only one of three European countries which still has a derogation in place.
The Minister said that according to the latest data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which was published at the request of the European Commission, Ireland will need to drop to 220kg N/ha by the end of the year unless a strong argument with solid proposals can be made to retain the higher rate.
Banging the table
The Commission would then have to take Ireland’s proposal to a vote from other member states before granting us the derogation.
“It’s illogical and reckless to think that other member states would grant our derogation when we’re not meeting the nitrates objectives and they are farming at 170kg N/ha,” the Minister said.
“It’s not a matter of going over and banging the table and looking for it, as we have no entitlement to it. We need to put forward a coherent, convincing proposal to them to help win them over to grant it,” Minister McConalogue said.
Entitlement
The Minister said that there are good reasons why we need to keep the derogation in place and that farm organisations and the Government need to collectively work together to build the case for retaining it. However, he warned that there is a sense of complacency around the derogation.
“There is a certain complacency in the wider farming sector that we're entitled to keep the derogation because we are a grass-based system. That is not the case and we need to be making progress,” he said.
This claim was refuted by IFA dairy policy executive Aine O’Connell, who urged the Minister to look at other measures that won’t break dairy farms.
O’Connell stressed that dairy farmers in Ireland don’t have the option to export manure to anaerobic digestion (AD) plants like other EU countries and that this is why it is critical to keep the derogation in place.
Stephen Arthur, IFA national dairy chair; Aine O’Connell, IFA dairy policy executive; and Joe Sweeney, Donegal IFA chair at the IFA county executive dairy meeting on the farm of Charles McCandless, Culdaff.
O’Connell said that they think the assessment criteria for the nitrates decision is flawed. She argued that improvements to water quality take time and two years is too short to show the results of the measures they are already implementing.
Stabilised or deteriorating
IFA national dairy chair Stephen Arthur called for acknowledgment of the good work that farmers are doing and criticised the EPA for the language it used by describing water quality as 'collapsing' and 'deteriorating'.
“I have no fear we will get it sorted, but it has not collapsed and it is not deteriorating,” he said.
If you got rid of every cow in the country, it still wouldn't sort out the water quality problem here
He stated that Teagasc science has shown that the 250kg N/ha is not interfering with water quality and that there is no evidence whatsoever to support such claims.
“If you got rid of every cow in the country, it still wouldn't sort out the water quality problem here,” Arthur remarked.
“People compare us to Holland; we're not Holland. We are Ireland and we have a good set-up here and are doing a good job, but we're not getting acknowledged for it.
“We're environmentalists, we're conservationists, that's what farmers are,” said Arthur, as he criticised some of the recent media coverage around dairy farming.
“Farmers' morale at the moment is on the ground. We can put cows on grass and can turn it into a lovely butter product. This is unique and an asset which has to be protected,” Arthur concluded.
Impacts
The IFA estimates that reducing the derogation to 220kg N/ha will cost the industry €236m. O’Connell said they are already seeing a land grab from dairy farmers and this reduction will exacerbate that, impacting national climate action measures by reducing the land available for tillage, AD and other land diversification options.
One comment from a dairy farmer on the floor suggested that it wouldn’t be the 7,000 dairy farmers in the derogation who would be affected.
He said that the same number of cows will be milked, just more land would be needed. He argued that it was the beef, tillage and sheep farmers who would be most affected due to increased competition for land.
Farmers at the IFA county executive dairy meeting.
Aurivo dairy general manager Stephen Blewitt expressed his concern about legislative changes coming down the line, which may make the dairy industry less attractive. Aurivo collects milk from around 1,000 dairy farmers in the west and northwest region.
He called on the Minister to take into account that water quality in Aurivo’s catchment area is the highest in the country and any measures introduced need to be zoned to the areas with poor water quality.
Minister of Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has warned dairy farmers that granting the nitrates derogation is not something that is in the Government's gift, as it's something that needs to be applied for and approved by the European Commission.
The warning came at the recent Donegal Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) county executive which was held on the dairy farm of Charles McCandless in Culdaff, Inishowen.
A large crowd of dairy farmers from around the northwest attended the meeting where the Minister reiterated that, as part of the agreed terms of the last nitrates derogation, the Irish Government has to submit an interim report on the progress the country is making in terms of water quality and chemical fertiliser use to the European Commission.
The terms were clear - if water quality hadn’t improved by the midterm review, the country’s derogation rate would drop from 250kg N/ha to 220kg N/ha in January 2024.
Currently, around 7,000 farmers nationally are availing of the derogation. Ireland is only one of three European countries which still has a derogation in place.
The Minister said that according to the latest data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which was published at the request of the European Commission, Ireland will need to drop to 220kg N/ha by the end of the year unless a strong argument with solid proposals can be made to retain the higher rate.
Banging the table
The Commission would then have to take Ireland’s proposal to a vote from other member states before granting us the derogation.
“It’s illogical and reckless to think that other member states would grant our derogation when we’re not meeting the nitrates objectives and they are farming at 170kg N/ha,” the Minister said.
“It’s not a matter of going over and banging the table and looking for it, as we have no entitlement to it. We need to put forward a coherent, convincing proposal to them to help win them over to grant it,” Minister McConalogue said.
Entitlement
The Minister said that there are good reasons why we need to keep the derogation in place and that farm organisations and the Government need to collectively work together to build the case for retaining it. However, he warned that there is a sense of complacency around the derogation.
“There is a certain complacency in the wider farming sector that we're entitled to keep the derogation because we are a grass-based system. That is not the case and we need to be making progress,” he said.
This claim was refuted by IFA dairy policy executive Aine O’Connell, who urged the Minister to look at other measures that won’t break dairy farms.
O’Connell stressed that dairy farmers in Ireland don’t have the option to export manure to anaerobic digestion (AD) plants like other EU countries and that this is why it is critical to keep the derogation in place.
Stephen Arthur, IFA national dairy chair; Aine O’Connell, IFA dairy policy executive; and Joe Sweeney, Donegal IFA chair at the IFA county executive dairy meeting on the farm of Charles McCandless, Culdaff.
O’Connell said that they think the assessment criteria for the nitrates decision is flawed. She argued that improvements to water quality take time and two years is too short to show the results of the measures they are already implementing.
Stabilised or deteriorating
IFA national dairy chair Stephen Arthur called for acknowledgment of the good work that farmers are doing and criticised the EPA for the language it used by describing water quality as 'collapsing' and 'deteriorating'.
“I have no fear we will get it sorted, but it has not collapsed and it is not deteriorating,” he said.
If you got rid of every cow in the country, it still wouldn't sort out the water quality problem here
He stated that Teagasc science has shown that the 250kg N/ha is not interfering with water quality and that there is no evidence whatsoever to support such claims.
“If you got rid of every cow in the country, it still wouldn't sort out the water quality problem here,” Arthur remarked.
“People compare us to Holland; we're not Holland. We are Ireland and we have a good set-up here and are doing a good job, but we're not getting acknowledged for it.
“We're environmentalists, we're conservationists, that's what farmers are,” said Arthur, as he criticised some of the recent media coverage around dairy farming.
“Farmers' morale at the moment is on the ground. We can put cows on grass and can turn it into a lovely butter product. This is unique and an asset which has to be protected,” Arthur concluded.
Impacts
The IFA estimates that reducing the derogation to 220kg N/ha will cost the industry €236m. O’Connell said they are already seeing a land grab from dairy farmers and this reduction will exacerbate that, impacting national climate action measures by reducing the land available for tillage, AD and other land diversification options.
One comment from a dairy farmer on the floor suggested that it wouldn’t be the 7,000 dairy farmers in the derogation who would be affected.
He said that the same number of cows will be milked, just more land would be needed. He argued that it was the beef, tillage and sheep farmers who would be most affected due to increased competition for land.
Farmers at the IFA county executive dairy meeting.
Aurivo dairy general manager Stephen Blewitt expressed his concern about legislative changes coming down the line, which may make the dairy industry less attractive. Aurivo collects milk from around 1,000 dairy farmers in the west and northwest region.
He called on the Minister to take into account that water quality in Aurivo’s catchment area is the highest in the country and any measures introduced need to be zoned to the areas with poor water quality.
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